The Imperial Palace tour was quite nice but all outside, and we didn’t even get to meet the Emperor! We did get a handy English audio guide to the tour, so while the other 100 people listened to the tour guide (a.k.a. security guard) bellowing into the microphone, we just tuned into our headsets.
It was “dangerous” to take this photo from the bridge at the palace, but luckily I took the photo before I listened to the audio guide tell me that!
I think that’s Tokyo Tower in the background.
After the palace tour, we visited Yasukuni shrine. Yasukuni means “peaceful country” so as you might not guess, this is where Japan’s war dead are enshrined. About 2 million veterans are enshrined here so their spirits can be worshipped. The shrine is very controversial, considering Japan’s military history and the fact that some of the enshrined souls are war criminals, and the fact that it was a government sponsored shrine until after WWII when Japan's new Constitution effectively separated church and state (more effectively than America's Constitution has). The Prime Minister’s visit here always creates an international stir, but there was nothing happening the day we were there.
In fact the greatest point of interest was wondering why there were all these strings strung across the garden pond. Theories: prevent the birds from catching the fish; encouraging spider webs; for hanging tarps to cover the pond. None of these theories was satisfactory: the koi (goldfish) were HUGE, we didn’t think they would want to encourage spider webs, and the strings didn’t look strong enough to support tarps. So we continue to ponder.
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